The Reluctant Hero
by Foxcat93
Summary: Starring silent film star Harry Langdon's character "The Little Elf." Full of slapstick and silliness, the story includes a nutty inventor and his sister and intrepid Hero Harry Lane who tries to save the City of Troublefield from various villains.
1. Harry's Family

_The main character in this story, Harry Lane, is based on silent film star Harry Langdon's character The Little Elf. For more information, please see the story notes on my profile. I would like to thank my good friend and author Lady Mallard for her help and advice on this story._

**The Reluctant Hero**

It was 1925. Little Harry Lane was sitting at breakfast with his parents. His mother, Edith, poured the milk in his glass and brought over the toast and eggs for all three of them. She put the bib around his neck and tied it in back. He smiled sweetly at his mother.

His father, Arthur, a tall brawny man sat across from Harry. "Son, your mother and I have been talking about your future. Considering that you're twenty-seven years old now and have …_finally_…graduated from high school, I think it's about time you found yourself a job."

"A job?" asked Harry.

"Yes, a job!" said his father. "It's about time that you start earning your own keep. Since you seem a bit inept at helping out on the farm, I have decided you must look for a job and start living on your own. Your mother and I are scraping to make ends meet. And I never thought it would take you so long to get through school…"

Edith shook her head at Arthur. She was very protective of little Harry. He was not like other children.

"I guess it was those three years in first grade that did me in…" said Harry.

"And what about the extra two years each in third grade and in fifth grade?" blustered his dad. "And the extra three years in high school?

"Now, Arthur, don't get angry with Harry. Just because he isn't up to the school standards. They raise that bar very high, you know…"

"Well, why can other children do it in 12 years and it took our son 22 years to do the same?"

"He's very thorough, Arthur."

Harry nodded. "Very thorough, Dad." He smiled sweetly and his huge innocent blue eyes smiled too.

"Nonetheless, Harry, you're going to get a job. I don't care what it is. Just take whatever you can get. But start earning some money. Your mother and I don't have a money tree out in the back yard, you know!"

"Yes, I noticed that," said Harry. "But if I ever see one, I will certainly buy it for you." He thought a moment. "Maybe it would be less expensive to buy money tree seeds instead…."

Both his parents rolled their eyes at this comment. "Harry, you should know there is no such thing as a money tree…" said his father. Edith shook her head at Arthur and put her finger to her lips.

Harry went back upstairs to his room where he combed his light brown fuzzy hair. He put on a clean white shirt, grey trousers with suspenders and carefully tied a huge red bow tie that his mother had lovingly made for him. He put on his small grey jacket with three large buttons and his matching hat, a rather tall affair with a dark grosgrain ribbon around it, upturned brim and a perpetual dint in the top.

Harry came downstairs again and gave his mother a big kiss. She kissed and hugged him back and said, "Now you be careful, honey, and don't take any wooden nickels."

Harry pondered what the consequences of taking a wooden nickel would be. Perhaps a very large sliver in one of your fingers. He stuck a finger in his mouth at the thought.

Harry went out the door to wait for his father to drive him to town. He opened the door and stepped on a loose floor board on the porch and it flew up and hit him in the face. Harry fell down the stairs and got up, holding his nose. His mother opened the door.

"Oh my! Harry, how many times has your father told you to fix that floor board?" asked his mother, as she handed him his lunch in a paper bag.

Harry didn't say anything, but sat down on the porch steps, thinking very hard.

His father pulled up in the slightly beat-up, but still serviceable Ford pickup. Harry still sat on the porch thinking. The truck made so much noise, it was strange that Harry didn't notice that his father had pulled up right in front of him.

"Harry, get in," said his father impatiently. Harry climbed in the passenger seat and put his lunch on his lap.

"Harry, I saw the porch board hit you in the face. How many times have I told you to fix that?" Arthur had to shout for the truck was very noisy.

"What?" said Harry, holding his hand to his ear.

"Never mind," said his father.

"You know, Dad, I was just thinking about how many times you've told me to fix the porch. I think I lost count after 26."

"What?" shouted his father. "I can't hear you over the engine."

"I can't hear you, Dad," Harry replied.

The two sat in noisy silence until they reached the big city called Troublefield. Harry's father pulled over and turned off the truck so they could talk. "Harry, I don't want you to come back home until you've found a job!" He was still shouting.

Harry's ears were still ringing, but he heard his father this time.

"I can't come home until I find a job?"

"No. And you must learn how to take care of yourself. Here's some money until you make your own. You can call your mother if you have any questions. I'll be gone all day working on the farm, _working_, did you hear me…like what I want you to be doing!"

"Yes, Dad," said Harry. He got out of the car and gave his father a little wave and watched him as he drove off. He stood on the corner of the sidewalk and looked in all directions. He put his forefinger between his teeth and wondered what to do next. There were so many directions to go, so many places he could go to find a job, so many decisions…..

He was standing at the corner in his indecision when a large, tall man with a moustache and slicked back dark hair knocked him over.

"Oh, I'm very sorry," said the man. He pulled Harry to his feet. Harry smiled and thanked the man. He tipped his hat and then resumed his thinking pose.

The man said, "Are you looking for someone?"

"No, I'm looking for a job."

The man laughed. "You'll never find one standing there. But come with me, I'm on my way to work now. I run an employment agency."

The man walked fast and Harry ran to keep up with him. He turned into a tall, Victorian building with lots of gingerbread on the outside. He led Harry to the third floor. Harry was impressed with the electric elevator and thought the job of running it would be delightful, going up and down all day. He pointed his forefinger and went up and down with it in the air, thinking about the motion of the elevator.

The man's office was large and fancy. "We're here early, and my appointments don't start till 8 am. So I have plenty of time to interview you." He hung up his coat and invited Harry to have a seat across the desk. Harry took off his hat and held it in his lap.

He stuck out his hand and said, "By the way, I'm Vernon Zent, owner of this business."

Harry shook his hand. "I'm Harry Lane. I don't own anything."

"I see. Well, Harry, let's get down to business. What type of position are you looking for?"

"The elevator operator…that looks like a wonderful job."

Zent gave Harry an odd look. "Let's start with your previous experience."

Harry put his finger between his teeth again and thought hard.

"Harry, what jobs have you had before?"

"Well…. I helped my mother do the dishes…and I chopped wood for the stove…"

"Now we're getting somewhere…anything else?"

"I should have fixed the porch when Dad told me to. But I keep forgetting."

By this time Zent was getting a bit irritated with the young man. "How old are you, son, about 16 or 17?"

"No, I'm 27."

"27! Surely you must have done more…what does your father do…have you helped him?"

Harry started to think again.

"Good grief, boy, can't you give me any straight answers?" Zent threw his pen on the desk with such force that it squirted ink in his face and all over the papers on his desk and the papers went flying. He rose sputtering, and went to the washroom where he washed the ink off his face. Meanwhile Harry picked up the papers from the floor and placed them back on Zent's desk, getting ink all over his hands in the process.

Zent came back from the washroom, but still looked flustered. Harry had often seen his father look like that. He went around to the other side of the desk and gave Zent a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Everything will be okay," said Harry, using the very words his mother often used to quiet his father when he got into a frazzled state. Of course, Harry still had wet ink on his hands and it rubbed off on the back of Zent's light grey suit coat.

Zent smiled and took a deep breath, sitting down once more. He threw the inky papers in the trash and started over. "Let's try a different tack. I have several job requests here. You tell me if you are qualified for the job. All right?"

Harry nodded, smiling.

"The first one is dog catcher. Could you do that?"

"Oh sure. I love dogs. They love me too. They follow me all around…"

"All right. Lets try that." Zent was clearly relieved. "Here's the address." He looked at Harry, anticipating his next question. "It's just around the corner and down the street."

Harry shook hands with Zent and he noticed Harry's hand was still black from the ink, now dry. "Better wash your hands so you give a good appearance, Harry." Harry washed his hands, tipped his hat to the now beaming Zent. Zent was beaming because he had gotten rid of Harry. Harry stepped out into the waiting room where hoards of people were waiting to see Zent. He wouldn't be beaming for long.

Harry found the dog pound with no trouble. He was hired immediately. The owner, a Mr Weimerainer, explained what Harry had to do. "You search the city for dogs. You put them in the back of the truck. You bring them here. Got it?"

"I think so," said Harry. He thought a minute. "Who drives the truck?"

"You do, bozo," said Weimerainer.

"No, my name isn't Bozo, it's Harry. But I don't know how to drive."

"It's simple, let me show you." Weimerainer gave him the five-minute condensed driving lesson and sent him on his way.

Of course, Harry put the truck in reverse and he smashed into the Model T parked behind him. Then he took off a little too fast, not realizing that he had locked bumpers with the Model T and it was stuck on the back of the truck. He saw a dog and pulled over. He lured it over by calling softly to it and it came to him and licked his face. He brought the dog to the back of the truck and he spied the Model T attached to the back of the truck. He put the dog inside, then stood back and looked at the problem.

He stood like a statue, gazing at the truck, his finger between his teeth, wondering how to unlock the bumpers. He scratched his head. He ran around to the other side. He stood in the street for a while and looked at it some more. Then he crouched down and looked at the bumpers close up. He touched it tentatively with his index finger. He stood up again. He kicked at the bumper gently. Nothing happened. This was a problem.

A man came up in a truck with logs on the back. He stopped next to Harry.

He laughed. "Got yourself a locked bumper, eh, Sonny?"

"Yes, sir. That automobile is stuck onto my truck and I don't know how to get it off."

The logger got out of his truck. "Here I have just the thing." He pulled out a huge sledge hammer and smashed the bumpers off on one side, then the other. The bumpers were still locked, but they were both detached from the vehicles and laying on the ground. Both vehicles were freed.

"Why thank you sir!" Harry smiled and tipped his hat, as the logger drove off.

Harry managed to find several more dogs before it was dark. This was going to be easy! Harry had found something he was good at!

He came back to the dog pound and Mr Weimerainer put them into cages.

Harry looked at their little forlorn and wistful faces. "So what happens now?"

"If they have owners who come for them, they can pay to get them back. If not…" he made a motion across his neck and made a whistling sound. Harry was taken aback. He didn't know this could happen. His eyes grew even larger and he was about to say something when Weimerainer handed him a key.

"See that they all have food and water, Harry. The food is in the corner. Then lock up and you can go home."

Harry nodded silently and took the key handed to him. He looked at it then he looked at all the dogs. He got out the food and fed and watered all the dogs. Then he looked at the key again.

"No, I can't do it," he whispered.

There was a telephone in the office of the dog pound and Harry called his mother.

"Hello, Harry, did you find a job?"

"Yes, Mom, I did. But I don't know where to go for the night."

"You can get a hotel room, Harry, until you find an apartment of your own. Do you still have the money your father gave you?"

"Yes."

"There is a hotel on Main Street. Just go there and get a room."

"Ok. I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, Harry, I miss you."

Harry let all the dogs from the pound out of their cages. They were all barking and fussing. He held up his finger to his lips. "Quiet, boys, we don't want to be caught!" he whispered " …Sorry, you girls too…"

There were about twenty dogs in all. Harry let all the dogs out the door and they followed him quietly down the street. He found the hotel and then told the dogs to stay in the back and not make a sound. He procured a room and found the back steps. He let his canine friends in the back door and up to his room. Luckily they didn't meet anyone on the steps, as it was rather late.

Harry played with the dogs for a while and had a lot of fun. Then he went to bed and some of the dogs slept in bed with him, some on the floor, a little one on the dresser, etc. Needless to say, when Harry awoke, the room was a mess. The dogs had gotten into fights during the night and had scratched the furniture, and ripped the curtains. He snuck the dogs outside again and took them for an early walk. Then he gave them a lecture and told them to all go home and not get caught again. They ran off to find their owners.

Harry paid his bill at the hotel and went to the dog pound. Weimerainer was there and steaming mad. "Where are all the dogs?"

"I got them all back to their owners, Mr Weimerainer."

The man pulled at his hair. "Harry, I get money for getting them back to their owners! And what did you do to my truck?"

While Harry was thinking of a suitable answer, Weimerainer yelled, "Never mind…You're FIRED!"


	2. Harry Tries Again

Harry walked sadly out of the dog pound, unhappy that he had lost his job, but glad that he had set the dogs free. But now what? He went back to the same corner of the street when he had met Mr Zent yesterday. It seemed to be a good place to find a job. As yesterday, Zent was hurrying along and he knocked Harry over again.

"Oh you," said Zent as he helped Harry pick himself up. He started walking at his usual fast pace and Harry ran to keep up with him. "How's the dogcatcher job going?" asked Zent.

"I'm very good at it. But I got fired."

Zent stopped a moment and Harry bumped into him. He turned. "If you're so good at the job, how did you get fired?"

Harry stopped to think. "I don't know…"

Zent sighed. "All right, come on, let's see if there is anything else I can find for you."

Zent went to his file cabinet immediately and pulled out a raft of papers. He sifted through them and pulled one out.

"Yes, this is it." Zent looked up from the papers. "What do you think about becoming an apprentice, Harry?"

"Sure. What's an apprentice?"

"Someone who studies under an expert. Let's see, it doesn't say what the doctor does…"

"A doctor's apprentice," said Harry, smiling. "That sounds very nice."

"Well, I don't know what the man does, exactly. I've met him. He's a bit…eccentric. But give it a try. I've sent quite a few people over there and still haven't filled the job. Oddly, none of them ever came back…" He stared hard at Harry. "I think he might like someone like you, someone a bit off the beaten path…" He handed Harry the address and told him how to get there.

"Wonderful, thank you, Mr Zent." Harry rose from his chair, but got his foot caught underneath it and it spilled him out on the floor. In trying to pick himself up, he grabbed onto Zent's desk and spilled the vase of flowers, water dripping all over the desk. Harry tried vainly to catch the glass vase before it rolled off and smashed onto the floor. He stood up, but slipped in the water on the floor and he bumped a large bookcase which started to wobble precariously. Zent ran to it and held it up before it fell on the desk, but not before it had spilled out every book onto his head and then onto the floor.

"Out! OUT!" roared Zent, still holding up the bookcase, a book still sitting open on his head. Harry tipped his hat and waved timidly, then backed up, walking directly into the door. The knob hit him in the back, but did no more damage. He opened the door to huge crowds of people again.

Harry closed the door and said to them in a loud whisper, "Be careful, he's in a touchy mood today!" Harry tiptoed out of the building. He found himself outside Zent's building, but didn't know where the paper was that Zent had given him. He checked every one of his pockets, several times. He looked up at the tall building behind him, to the third floor, where Zent's office was. He must have dropped it up there. He didn't want to venture up there right now.

Harry decided to go stand on his favourite corner to see if a job offer would pop up again. He stood on the corner for some time and nothing happened. People just passed him by. He sat on a nearby step. As time went by he began to be discouraged. He put his chin in his hands and his elbows on his knees.

He went over the events of the morning and when he got to the part where Zent handed him the address, he thought and thought. Maybe if he thought hard enough, he could remember the directions… but he couldn't. He was getting warm, so he took off his shoes. He put his feet on top of them and rolled them around idly. Then he saw something white on the bottom of one of them. He picked at the piece of paper stuck to his shoe and opened it, then jumped up with elation! It was the paper with the address. He was so excited, he ran in one direction, then another, and he couldn't remember which way to go. He ran down half a block, then remembered his shoes.

He got back to the corner and they were gone! He looked over at the street and saw a garbage worker throwing his shoes in the top of the garbage wagon. It started slowly down the street. "Hey, wait, you have my shoes!"

Harry caught up with the truck and he climbed on the back of the wagon and held on as it slowly went down the street. He saw the lock that kept the back of the truck closed. The door opened to the side with a hinge on the other side. He pulled open the pin from the hasp and the door went swinging wildly to the side, with Harry holding on for dear life. The garbage spilled out all over the street. The driver kept on going, unaware of the mess he was making in the street.

Harry jumped off the truck and fell onto the trash in the road. But he spied his shoes. He grabbed them and ran and ran as far away as he could. He stopped to put on his shoes. Then he realized he was lost. He pulled out the tattered piece of paper from Zent. He looked at the street sign and realized he was on the correct street.

There was but one house on the street and it was a huge Victorian mansion. It was dark, the paint was peeling and the windows were dirty. It looked like a haunted house, with its turrets and many chimneys. Harry looked again at the paper, then stared at the house for a while, standing still in the middle of the driveway. He took a few steps timidly this way and a few the other way. Eventually he made his way up the long driveway to the entrance of the house. It didn't look like anyone was home.

He knocked on the door timidly. There was no answer. He tried knocking with the door knocker and it made such a loud sound that he jumped a little and his hat fell off. He was picking it up when the door was opened a slit.

"Yes?" asked a woman's voice.

He kept his hat in his hands. "I'm here for a job. Is this the right place?"

"Yes, come in, kiddo." The woman opened the door. She had crazy wild white hair that went in all directions and wore strange Victorian clothing that looked as if it had seen better days.

He looked around the house which had once been beautiful, but now was dark and festooned with cobwebs. The woman led him through a great entrance way. A grand piano stood in a corner of the room, a candelabra sitting on it, the dust piled up thickly. Harry sneezed as he passed it. A huge marble staircase led upstairs. Harry stood still, looking at it.

"Are you coming, kiddo?" asked the old woman. Harry nodded and followed her down a long flight of steps to a damp and dark basement. She opened the door to a well-lit room. It was huge and contained long rows of tables with test tubes and glass containers with liquids of every colour imaginable. A strange little man stood behind one of the tables, pouring liquids from one beaker to another.

"Seymour," someone has come for the job." said the old woman. She then disappeared up the stairs.

Harry stood watching the old man, who looked exactly like a male replica of the woman. His crazy white hair stood out from his head at all angles and his blue eyes looked wild. He wore a white lab coat over a shirt with a light blue tie and dark trousers. "Come in, come in…" said the man. He kept on pouring the liquid into different beakers. Finally he was satisfied.

"Look at this, Sonny…" said the strange man. "isn't it wonderful?" He held up a beaker of green liquid.

"Yes, it's a lovely colour," said Harry. "What is it?"

"I've just invented a new food!"

"What is it, Sir?"

"It has gelatin in it and fruit flavouring. It will be very tasty and everyone will want it for dessert! I shall call it…let's see…hmmm….I've got it! Seymour Gelatin Squares! What a wonderful name!"

"Ummm. I think it has already been invented, Sir. It's called Jell-o. My mother serves it every Sunday."

"Drat!" said the old man. "Someone always steals my best ideas!" He turned to Harry. "So, what can I do for you?"

"I was sent here by the agency. They said you have a job for an apprentice."

"Oh that is wonderful!" The old man clapped his hands together. "Finally, they sent me a candidate. I wondered what I had been paying them for…all these years and no one showed up…"

"So what is the job?"

"You are going to be my apprentice! I am Dr Seymour Seymour."

"Dr Seymour _Seymour_?"

"Yes, my mother had this odd sense of humour. You've met my sister? The lady that brought you down here? Well, Mother named her the same name, only it has an _a_ on the end to make it feminine."

"That makes sense," said Harry. "I'm Harry Lane."

"Welcome, Harry. I think you and I will get along just fine."

"What do you do, Dr Seymour?"

"I'm an inventor! I invent lots of things! Just look here…" He led Harry over to a table of wonderful items. He pointed to one with a huge horn on top of a little box. It had an arm that sat on a flat disk. "This one is called the Seymour sound and music maker."

"It looks like a Victrola to me, sir."

Seymour put his hand to his head. "Oh no, that can't be true! Someone stole that idea too!" He went on the next item on the table. "But look at this one! It was a flat piece of wood with many vacuum tubes attached and wires coming out everywhere.

"Look, Harry, it's called the Seymour electromagnetic band finder!"

"Is it a radio?"

The doctor looked crestfallen. "Oh dear, there _must_ be spies who have gotten in!"

"Do you want me to stand guard?" asked Harry.

"No, that's Seymoura's job. I think she's been falling asleep on duty!" He paused and a weird smile came across his face. "You, Harry, are going to help me with my greatest invention!"

Harry caught his breath, he was so excited. "What _is_ your greatest invention, sir?"

The doctor scratched his head. "I haven't figured that out yet…but you, Harry Lane, will be a part of my greatest invention!" He laughed a weird laugh and jumped up and down, clapping his hands.

Harry smiled and clapped a little too. This was so exciting!


	3. Harry Learns a New Skill

The doctor said Harry could have any room he wanted in the mansion to stay in, as sometimes he worked long hours on his inventions and Harry probably wouldn't want to commute home or to a hotel. Harry couldn't make up his mind what room he wanted as he ran from one chamber to the next, so Seymoura chose for him and gave him a room high in one of the round turrets where Harry could see for miles around.

He got himself settled and then ran down to the lab. "Dr Seymour, I need to call my mother. Do you have a telephone?" The doctor thought for a while. "I don't think I have invented that yet…"

Then Harry heard a _psssst_ from behind him. It was Seymoura beckoning to him. She bade him come upstairs and said, "You want a telephone? I had one installed years ago. Over here. Seymour never uses it…he is still trying to invent it. But me, well, I never know when I might need to call someone…here, kiddo, help yourself." On a table stood a candlestick phone. He called his mother.

"Mom!" said Harry. "I have a job and they are giving me a room too!"

There was silence on the other end. "Mom? Did you hear me?"

"Oh Harry," his mother sniffled. "I miss you so much. But your father will be glad to hear you've done well for yourself…tell me, honey, what job did you get?"

"I'm not sure. I'm helping a doctor invent something, I guess."

"Well that sounds nice, Harry. Your father will be delighted. But come and see us soon, won't you?"

"Sure, Mom. Very soon."

Harry went to bed that night very excited at the thought he was going to help invent something. He wondered what it would be….

* * *

Very early the next morning, before sun-up, Harry was awakened by a knock on the door. "Hey, kiddo, get up. Seymour wants you in the lab."

Harry arrived at the bottom of the steps in the lab and the doctor grabbed him and danced around with him. "Oh, Harry, I'm so excited!"

"What is it, Dr Seymour?"

"I have a great idea. But you have to help me. Lay down on the slab over there."

"What?"

"I said, lay down on the slab."

Harry obeyed. The doctor strapped him down and put a round metal cap on his head with lots of wires coming out of it.

"Sir, I think I saw a movie about this invention…"

"What? Someone has stolen another of my ideas? That can't be…why I haven't told anyone about this, not even Seymoura!" He narrowed his eyes and got very close to Harry's face. Harry's eyes opened wide and he shivered a little. "Who was it that told? Tell me…who? Who?"

"I read it in a book…it was a Doctor…um, I can't remember his name…." Harry looked thoughtful. "I have it! It was Dr Frankie Stein!" Then Harry remembered what the doctor in the book had done. "He made a horrible looking fellow out of odds and ends he found laying around his back yard! You're not going to do that, are you?"

"No, of course not, Harry! First of all, I never would steal anyone else's inventions. And secondly, I would never hurt my favourite apprentice…"

Harry smiled. "Oh, I'm your favourite apprentice?"

Seymoura was sitting at the bottom of the stairs, watching. "You're his ONLY apprentice…" she muttered under her breath.

"What?" said Seymour and Harry in unison.

"Uh, it's a new novel I'm reading, _The LONELY Dentist…_ She ran up the stairs.

"So, are you ready, Harry?"

"I guess so…"

"You trust me, don't you, Harry? You know I won't make a mistake…" He put the metal cap on Harry's head.

"Sure, Dr Seymour."

"All right, here we go…." Seymour giggled crazily and threw a switch. Nothing happened. He tried a few more times. Still nothing happened. "Drat! Seymoura must have blown a fuse again." The doctor ran to another room to look. Harry undid the straps and sat up on the table kicking his legs around. He jumped off the table and started looking carefully at all the brightly coloured liquids in the beakers.

Harry touched a couple of beakers tentatively with one finger. They didn't explode, so he got a bit braver. He sniffed a red liquid. It smelled like cherry. "Mmmm," he said. He sniffed a purple one. It smelled like rotten meat. He put that one down quickly. He looked at the green one that the doctor had showed him earlier. It smelled like lime .Jell-o and reminded him of his mother. He closed his eyes. He had always loved it when she let him drink a little of the warm liquid before she put it in the bowl to set. He sniffed again with his eyes closed, and then without thinking, drank the whole beaker. "Mmmm, that was good!"

He jumped back up on the slab and wondered what the doctor was going to do to him with the silver electric cap he wanted Harry to wear.

The doctor came back and said, "Let's try it again!"

"Wait…" said Harry. "I don't feel so good…"

"You don't feel well?"

"No, I just drank some of that warm jell-o. It tasted very good, but made me feel weird…" He hiccupped several times and put his hand over his mouth.

"Hmmm, let me take a look. Open your mouth." Seymour looked in Harry's mouth. "Hmmm. Your tongue is green. I think that means something…come here over to the light, let me see better…"

Harry jumped off the table, but didn't hit the floor. Instead, as he walked, he gained momentum and he realized that he was floating somewhat above the floor! The sensation felt weird and Harry, never a bastion of gracefulness, made all kinds of wild moves to right himself. He turned cartwheels in the air and knocked down a few beakers of liquid to the floor, where they sizzled and ate holes in the cement. He was very dizzy and couldn't stop the cartwheels.

"Help! Help!" cried poor Harry. Dr Seymour was clapping his hands, jumping up and down and screaming, "I've done it! I've done it!" Finally Seymoura, who had heard the ruckus from upstairs, came down and saw Harry careening wildly in the air, flying from one side of the room to the other, bumping his head on the ceiling and the walls. He was still wailing, "Help! Help!" When he got near to Seymoura, she grabbed his arms and he skidded to a sitting halt at her feet.

Harry's eyes were bigger than ever and he looked really scared. He was afraid to move, not wanting to take off again.

Dr Seymour approached him, still laughing with glee. "You were wonderful! Wonderful, my boy! I have finally succeeded!" Harry was still sitting on the floor and the doctor pulled him to his feet.

"What happened?"

"The … green…what did you call it…Jell-o…it made you fly! I'm a success!"

"I don't have anywhere to fly to, Sir…."

"Ah but you will! You can fly to Rome, Paris, London, even Gary, Indiana! The possibilities are endless!"

"But, Sir, I don't even know where those places are…"

"Harry, I can get you a map…now get up off the floor…carefully. We have to harness this flying power. You have to learn to control it." The doctor took Harry, carefully, upstairs to the huge former ballroom with ceilings that were eight storeys high. He started giving him flying lessons. Finally Harry relaxed enough to start enjoying the flying.

Seymoura came upstairs and sat down in the ballroom to watch Harry. He was getting pretty good at it. He wasn't bumping himself as much anymore and he could fly straight. His turns were nice and he was smiling, enjoying it. She lit a cigarette and put it in a cigarette holder. She dragged on it a few times.

"Seymour, I know what that boy needs."

The doctor turned, not realizing that she was there. "What is it, Seymoura?"

"He needs to be more aerodynamic. I think I can whip up something…"


	4. Harry Gets a New Look

Harry practiced every day and became almost proficient in his flying. And one day he found something wonderful. He had played the violin at home, but after a few lessons and a few month's worth of practice, his parents had had to sell it to help pay for some farm implements. At least that's what they told Harry.

This special day, he found an old wreck of a violin in a huge heap of various and sundry items in one of the rooms. It was on such a high mountain of items that Harry couldn't reach it without flying. But he took a little jump which started him on a flight and then with his arms, he turned just the right direction. He set himself down on the top of the heap and touched the treasure.

Harry smiled. He had loved to play his violin in the short time that he had had one at home, but he always wondered that no one else wanted to play with him or even let him join a band. He just knew he sounded wonderful and, as he had done before at home, he practiced every day for long hours.

The only problem was that Harry was the world's worst violinist and he had a tin ear. What's more, he never tuned the instrument correctly and when he played, often people held their ears and ran away as fast as possible. Sometimes they screamed in pain.

When Dr Seymour heard Harry's playing, he was rather enchanted. You see, he had a tin ear, too. In fact two of them. Seymoura, on the other hand, either took a long walk with her dog, Igor, while Harry played or else she used one of the illustrious doctor's inventions that really did work…deafening ear plugs. Dr Seymour told Harry he could keep the ancient broken down violin and Harry was ecstatic.

Seymoura came up with a wonderful suit of clothes for Harry to make him more aerodynamic. She knew he needed a wide and flowing cape which she made in bright green and blue. She made him a tight fitting matching suit. The suit and cape were designed so the wind wouldn't slow him down. She made him a matching covering for his head so his hair wouldn't fly about in the wind. She found him some old army boots that she dyed bright yellow, along with matching gloves. She found a pair of bi-plane goggles which she also dyed yellow…and for the finishing touch, she embroidered a huge "H" for _Harry_ on his chest and on his cape in blazing, neon, see-in-the-dark yellow.

Harry put it on and looked in the mirror. "How do I look?"

"I think you look considerably smarter than normal, kiddo."

"Why, thank you, but I can't go outside looking like this. What would my Mom say?"

"Harry, if you're not embarrassed to go out in that weird get-up you came here with, you won't have a problem with this."

"This is a bit loud."

"Not as loud your violin playing. Besides, you have to be seen when you're flying. So no one will crash into you."

"Oh." He looked at himself from another angle. "Your sewing is lovely, but…I'd rather wear my own clothes." He pointed his index finger at his own clothes, piled up on a chair.

"Harry, if you wear your street clothes, your hat will fall off in the wind, you will get bugs in your eyes and your hair will be a mess."

"Oh."

"What's more, your mother's lovely red hand-sewn tie will fly off in the wind and become lost and your buttons will fall off. Then your coat will fly off, your suspenders will break and heavens to betsy, your trousers will go. Now you don't want to be flying in your long underwear, do you?"

"Weeeelllll….this sort of looks like long underwear…"

She noticed that since Harry had found the violin, he had carried it with him all the time. "Will you wear it if I promise to make a little case for your violin so you could carry it with you?"

"Oh! Miss Seymoura, Ma'am, you would do that for me? That would be wonderful!"

* * *

In the days following, Seymoura persuaded Harry to venture outside. There weren't any other houses in the vicinity of Dr Seymour's weird mansion, so he wouldn't be seen by anyone. He had become used to the strange clothing and he went upstairs to the turret room where he slept. He opened the window, but as the breeze came in, he lost courage. He shut it again and stood back from it, his forefinger between his teeth again. He opened the window about an inch and knelt down and sniffed the air coming in. He opened it a bit further and stuck a foot out. He gingerly put the whole leg through the window and pushed the window up high enough to get his head out.

He looked down and was suddenly terrified. This wasn't anything like flying around the ballroom where the worst thing he could hit if he fell was a soft sofa or a padded rug. No, this was outside and much further down. Harry was too terrified to look. He closed his eyes and held onto the window with his arms. He couldn't move.

Just then, Seymoura came in the room and slammed the door with a loud bang. It startled Harry so much that he let go of the window and went hurdling down the side of the tall mansion. He suddenly forgot how to fly!

Harry ended his fall from the window by crashing spread-eagle on the unkempt lawn below. However, when he picked himself up, he was very surprised that he wasn't hurt. The lawn must be made of something bouncy or cushiony. He tested the ground with a foot, tentatively. It seemed very hard. He shrugged his shoulders, then went around to the door of the mansion and climbed up the steps to his turret. Seymoura was still there, smoking her holdered cigarette.

Harry opened the little sack which Seymoura had made him for his violin and looked inside. She told him she had also put his clothing in the tiny bag, but that didn't make sense. It was a very small bag which tied around his waist and hung on one side and barely weighed an ounce. He was looking for the violin, which he shook out of the pouch. Out came his whole wardrobe too. They were very small. The coat was barely an half inch tall, the trousers about 3 inches and the hat looked like a thimble. The violin was small enough for a mouse to play. He laid them all out on the table, along with his teeny tie and pair of shoes.

He looked at Seymoura. He pointed with one forefinger at the tiny clothes and violin. "Did I get bigger?"

Seymoura laughed. "No, kiddo. It's an invention of mine…oh I suppose Seymour never mentioned that I'm an inventor too." She sighed. "He always forgets that. Oh well, no matter. Kiddo, I shrunk your things to make them fit in the little bag. That way you can take them with you and the violin too. Did you really think you could fly with a full sized violin and a normal set of clothes? You would need a suitcase, kiddo and I doubt you'd be able to take off flying."

Harry stepped back from the table and sized up his shrunken possessions again. He pondered while Seymoura blew smoke rings in the air. Then Harry pointed to himself. "So can you make me little so I can wear my clothes again?

"Oh you are a scream, kiddo. No, all you have to do is spray a little water on them and they will grow to normal proportions. Then if you stuff them in the bag again, they will shrink. The bag contains a chemical in the inside that will shrink anything inside of it." She inhaled deeply. "So, one precaution. Don't put your hands in that bag. Otherwise you'll have teeny teeny hands until you can get them into water. And it's not easy to turn on a spigot with teeny hands! Ask me, I know!"

"So…how _do_ you get a spigot open with teeny hands?"

"Never mind." The cigarette was burning down so Seynoura put it out and threw it in the fireplace. "Say kiddo, one more thing. Did you get hurt when you fell out that window?"

Harry looked at his hands and the front of his suit. "No…but I got some dirt on the suit…."

"Never mind the dirt. I made the suit out of a special material. You won't get hurt if you fall, even from a great height or hit something while you're flying."

"Swell!" Harry smiled as he looked at his brightly coloured suit with a new respect.

"And the suit folds up very small because it's made of my special material and just fits in your pocket. So, kiddo, go ahead and spray your things."

Harry went to the sink and wet his tiny clothes and the violin. Before his eyes, they slowly grew until they were normal size. Harry opened his blue eyes in amazement until they seemed much _larger_ than normal size.

He pointed, stabbing the air again with his forefinger in the direction of the suit of clothes. "How…how…how did you do that?"

"Weren't you listening, kiddo? Suffice to say all you need to know is three things, one - spray them with water to make them bigger, two - put them in the pouch when you want to make them small and three - never, never, put your fingers in there."

Harry looked up again and counted off the items he needed to know on his fingers. He tried to remember by silently mouthing what Seymoura had said. He looked at her and smiled. He said, "I've got it!" as he held up two fingers.

"Great.," said Seymoura, rolling her eyes. "Now take another flying leap out that window."

This time Harry was enthusiastic. He tried it quite a few more times. Even though he crashed to the ground a lot at first, he started to get the hang of flying from a great height. He ran up the stairs many times and jumped out of the window, a few times, almost gracefully. After his 45th leap, Seymoura caught his cape and stopped him.

"Kiddo, you know you don't have to climb up the stairs every time to get back up here. Just try flying back…"

A light suddenly turned on for Harry. You could almost see the incandescent bulb glowing right above his head. He smiled. "That's a swell idea!"


	5. Harry and the Cat

That evening, after Harry had gone to sleep and Seymoura had taken her dog Igor for a long walk, Dr Seymour was in the basement pouring chemicals together and making lovely coloured concoctions. He put several of them down on the lab table in a row. There were at least ten. He started mixing them together again. Then he looked at them. All the colours were mixed up and every beaker was a lovely shade of greyish purple. He had planned ot come up with a blue coloured Jell-o type concoction, but now he couldn't remember which beaker held it.

He desperately wanted to try the concoction, but he had also been making some special solution to clean out his automobile's carburator and another was going to be a special medicine for Seymoura's dog, Igor, to cure him of the mange. He thought he would take a chance as to which concoction was the one he needed, so he started to count the beakers with a rhyme:

_one and two, two and three,_

_that's the one I want to see,_

_four and five, five and six_

_that looks like a tasty mix, _

_seven, eight, eight and nine,_

_that's the one, I'll make it mine!_

He took the ninth beaker and sniffed it. Then Dr Seymour drank some of it. He began to cough. "Hmmm, not a bad taste…" He drank some more and started coughing uncontrollably. He fell to the floor holding his throat. A lot of smoke came up from the floor. When he arose in a few moments, he was smiling. "Mmm, not bad. Sort of a minty taste." He didn't see the long striped tail and the big pink pointed ears that he was now sporting. He had an overwhelming urge to purr and curl up in a large basket and go to sleep… "Mrowr," said the doctor. "It tastes rather like catnip…"

* * *

Harry came down for breakfast the next morning. Seymoura was cooking. "Where's the doctor, Harry? Is he working on a new invention?"

Harry sat down and put his elbows on the table and his chin on his hands and thought very hard. "I haven't seen him for a long time, Miss Seymoura. I think since yesterday."

"We should look for him. It's just possible one of his inventions got away and he's after it."

"Got away?" Harry looked startled.

"Yes, a few of them seem almost alive. And the doc doesn't want anyone stealing his inventions." She served Harry and sat down at the table. "Although I can't imagine anyone would want his inventions…he can't even give them away…"

"His Jell-o is swell, Miss Seymoura. I can't fly without it!"

She filled up his glass with the green liquid. "Here's your daily dose, Harry."

Seymoura suggested that she, Harry and Igor take a walk to town for some fresh air. They took off walking and since it was a lovely day, went to the fairgrounds. There was a carnival taking place there and Harry was entranced. Suddenly the ferris wheel stopped. It couldn't be started again. The screams of the frightened children could be heard.

"Harry, here's your chance to do something useful with your flying skills," said Seymoura.

"What?" said Harry.

"You heard me…fly up to the top of the ferris wheel and rescue those children."

"I can't do that in front of everybody…."

"Harry, do it. You'll be a hero!"

"I….I….don't want to be a hero…"

"Get up there, kiddo, before I show you the back of my hand!"

Harry looked at the back of his own hand. "Does it look like mine?"

"Aaaarrrrggghhh!" said Seymoura. She sounded like Harry's father when he got irritated with Harry's reluctance. She grabbed his arm and pointed to a row of bushes for him to change clothes. Harry had his flying clothes under his regular ones, so he only had to take off his street clothes. But his boots were still in the little pack. He pulled them out and looked around for some water. He drenched them in a drinking fountain. Finally ready, he tiptoed around the side of the bush.

Seymoura pulled him by his cape. "Harry, get up there!"

Harry nervously took off and crashed into the top of the ferris wheel. He didn't hurt himself but upset the children even more and himself too. He picked up a crying little girl and brought her down to the ground. He went up and removed all the children, one by one.

When they were all down, he realized he was shaking from the experience and he ran behind the bushes but was too upset to even put his regular clothes back on. He sat down on the ground and pulled up his knees. He put his head on his knees and tried to make himself invisible. Unfortunately that was one thing not in his repertoire.

Suddenly, he felt a soft touch on his shoulder. Harry looked up. There was a beautiful woman and a little girl standing next to him.

"Thank you so much for rescuing my little sister. Who are you?"

Harry stood up slowly, surprised that anyone had seen him. He forgot about his neon suit which would set him apart in any crowd.

He backed up a little, right into the bushes and fell backwards. The woman gave him a hand to stand up. He smiled sweetly and shyly.

"Who are you?" asked the woman again. "What's your name?"

"I…I…," he said. He was blushing. He didn't take off the goggles and she couldn't really see what he looked like.

"I have to go now…" he turned around and smashed in to the bushes again. There was no way out but up. He flew up in a perfect spiral and in his colourful suit, looked like a roman candle shooting up into the sky. He kept flying, not looking where he was going…and flew right into the bottom of a bi-plane that was flying above the fairgrounds with an advertising sign trailing. He held on to the wheel strut with one hand. Another bi-plane came by flying in the other direction. The pilot waved and Harry waved back, with the hand that was holding on….and started plummeting to the earth.

Harry was still waving when he crashed into someone on the ground. He stood up and brushed himself off, then saw he had knocked over a man with a black mask, carrying a sack which had spilled all over.

"Oh, pardon me!" said Harry, starting to pick up the man's bag, which he picked up by its bottom. Thousands of dollars in bright silver and gold coins and neat packages of hundred dollar bills spilled out of the sack.

Harry stood still, looking at the empty bag, and then at the heap of money at his feet. He opened the bag and looked in. The man grabbed the bag back and started to shovel the coins back into the bag with his hand. "I'm very sorry…" said Harry. Suddenly two policemen came running up. Harry started to run in the opposite direction, then came back, thinking he should help the man, then he saw the policemen and he started to run away again.

One of the policemen caught his cape while the other put handcuffs on the masked man. "Hey sonny, where did you learn to do that?" said one of the cops.

"You have to drink Jell-o…" said Harry. The policeman gave Harry a strange look.

"Well, no matter, thanks to you, we've caught Marvin the Menace, the most notorious bank robber in the state! He just robbed the Troublefield Mutual Bank and if it weren't for you, coming out of the sky at just the right moment, why he would have gotten away with thousands!"

"Thousands?" said Harry. "Thousands of what?"

A crowd was forming as the police herded Marvin into the paddy wagon. Harry put his finger in his mouth and wondered what to do.

"Hey kid, look over here!" yelled a photographer, as Harry looked confusedly toward the man who snapped his picture.

A reporter grabbed his arm. "I want your story, kid. Who are you?" Another photographer snapped his photo as Harry gave a strange little half smile, really more of a grimace. He wanted to get away from the crowd by all means. Everyone was clamouring for him. Everyone grabbed his arm or his shoulder or his cape…Again the only way out was up. He spiralled up again and this time took his landing a bit too fast, falling out of the sky head over heels in a distant field.

He fell over Igor, Seymoura's dog. Igor was the strangest dog ever. He was part Scottish wolfhound, part English bulldog and part Chinese Crested. You could see bits of Pekinese and smatterings of Sharpei. Don't even try to visualize it; let's just say that Igor was quite the dog. He may have been odd looking, but Igor was still a dog and dogs loved Harry and Harry loved dogs. Igor licked Harry's face. Harry hugged Igor.

Harry looked up to see Seymoura. He stood up and looked at her inquiringly.

"Well, Harry, that was amazing! I saw the whole thing and I wouldn't have believed it! Finally one of Seymour's inventions has worked! And it's all due to you!"

Harry realized they were on the lawn of Dr Seymour's mansion and they went inside. Thankfully Seymoura had had the presence of mind to pick up Harry's regular clothes and shoes before she left the fairgrounds.

As they came in, they both saw the man-sized striped cat curled up on the couch, wearing glasses and reading the evening paper. Igor got very excited and jumped at the cat. "Cut it out, Igor!" said Seymour. He hissed at the dog and Igor sat obediently at the foot of the couch.

Seymoura put her hand to her head. "Seymour, not again! A cat this time?"

"Mrowr," said Dr Seymour. "Well, it's better than the giraffe. It wasn't fun having to spend all my time in the ballroom unless I wanted to hit my head on the ceiling all the time. And going through doorways was definitely not good for my head either…."

"Yes, true," said Seymoura.

Harry was standing still, looking at the doctor's big pointed pink ears. He had never seen a cat this big before. And this tabby had a wild white mane sticking up around his face and head.

"I like your striped tail, doctor," said Harry.

"Thank you, my boy." said the doctor. "Well look at this…you have certainly been busy this afternoon. I'm glad to see that my formula has come in handy."

Harry looked puzzled. "What?"

"Come here, Harry." He pointed with one extended claw to Harry's photos in the evening paper. Harry sat down beside the large cat.

Seymour read from the paper… "The headlines say, _Shy Hero Saves Children; Captures Bank Robber."_ Not bad for your first day on the job, is it?

"The article reads, _A shy Hero has appeared in our little town. Today, at the Municipal Fairgrounds, children and adults alike were enjoying the many excitements of the County Fair. Suddenly the huge ferris wheel became stuck. Try as they might, the intrepid operators could not get the wheel to move. The children began crying in fear and dropping their ice cream and cotton candy on the people seated below. The fear grew with each moment. Then suddenly, out of the sky something appeared. What was it? It was brightly coloured and some thought it a large pre-historic bird or advertising bi-plane. Others thought it could be an alien from outer space. But as it neared, everyone could see that it was a flying man in a loud skin-tight suit, with a cape and goggles._

"_This strange creature arrived at the top of the wheel quite abruptly, and the children screamed louder, but never mind, soon he was lifting each of the little darlings to safety. Mothers welcomed their babes to their arms with cries of joy. The strange hero awaited no accolades, but instead went on to his second feat of the day. Unknown to most, a robbery was taking place at the Troublefield Mutual Bank. Our intrepid fellow swooped down upon Marvin the Menace, notorious bank robber, and triumphantly handed him over to the police, evidence in hand._

"_Who is this intrepid Hero? …This brightly clothed fellow who waits for no praise or thanks, but does his good deeds and then flies away, anonymously."_

"Yes, who is he?" puzzled Harry. "I wonder…" He put his finger between his teeth, knit his brows and thought hard."

"Harry, it's you, ding-dong! You're the fellow they are talking about!" said Seymoura. "You saved those children and caught the bank robber."

"Oh…" said Harry. "That was a good thing, right?"

"Igor," said Dr Seymour, playfully. "Sic 'em !" The nutty looking dog jumped on Harry, knocked him over and licked his face. Harry smiled and hugged the dog again.


	6. Harry Comes into His Own

In the days and months that followed, Seymoura and Harry went to town often, with the specific idea in mind to capture criminals and save people from harrowing situations. Harry saved people from falling off bridges, tall towers, saved several women tied to railroad tracks just as the trains were coming, rescued a man hanging onto a large clock and flew to help a lady kidnapped by a large gorilla who had climbed a tall building. He assisted in the gorilla's capture by flying by and sprinkling some of the doctor's laughing powder on the beast. It seemed there was always someone to rescue. Then sometimes Harry would fly home, making sure he changed into his own clothes and would have a wonderful visit with his parents.

One evening Harry arrived home just in time for dinner. His mother met him at the door and kissed him, pulling him in and seating him at the table.

His father was already sitting at the table, waiting for supper. "Well Harry," said Arthur. "How is your job coming? And who is it that you are apprenticed to? I don't think I caught his name the last time you were here."

"His name is Dr Seymour Seymour and he is a cat. Although sometimes he's a giraffe, but he likes being a cat better, because he doesn't bump his head and then once he was an elephant, but he couldn't get through all the doors and he was scared of the mice then too…"

"Never mind, Harry," said his father. "I think you did tell me that the last time. Are they reading you fairy tales?"

"No, Dad."

"Let's try again, Harry. Now you said the doctor lives with his sister. And what's her name?"

"It's Miss Seymoura Seymour, Dad. And she has a dog named Igor. He's the niftiest looking dog I ever did see!"

"Harry, if you're going to make up things, why don't you come up with something believable…"

"I'm telling the truth, Dad really!"

"Arthur," spoke up Harry's mother, Edith. "Harry wouldn't lie. I'm sure he believes every word he tells us!" She turned to her son. "So what does the doctor have you do?"

"Ummm. I can't tell you. It's a secret."

"Come now, Harry, you can tell us…"

"You won't believe me."

"Of course we will, we're your Mom and Dad!" said his mother. His father looked sceptical.

"OK. Here's what I do. I drink green Jell-o."

"That's all they feed you? Oh, my poor dear…"

"No, Mom. I drink green Jell-o so I can fly."

"Excuse me?" said his father.

Harry smiled sweetly. "It's the truth!"

"You fly…"

"Yes. It's very much fun!"

"Edith," said Arthur. "Do we have any money saved for a psychiatrist? I was afraid it might come to this one day…"

"Now Arthur, be a little understanding. Our boy has been away from home a long time now. It's certain to make a child a bit addle-brained."

"Edith, he _started out_ addle-brained. What he is now, I couldn't say. Find that shrink who has a rubber room…"

Edith reached her arm around her son. "Arthur, you just leave the boy alone. He's apparently doing a wonderful job for the doctor, isn't that right?" Harry nodded.

"How much are they paying you, boy?" asked Arthur.

Harry put his finger between his teeth again. "I don't know…"

"Harry, what do you mean _you don't _know …what's the matter with you? Isn't that the reason you left home, to make your fortune…to at least make _some_ money?"

"I don't know…"

"Arthur, leave the boy alone. After all, an apprentice doesn't _make_ any money. He learns how to do something from a master craftsman. Now, Harry, what is it that the doctor does for a living?"

"He invents things."

"Like what?"

"Like the Victrola, the radio and Jell-o…oh and earplugs."

"Harry, those things have already been invented."

"I told him that."

The conversation got a bit quiet after that. Arthur thought that this doctor seemed like a person even stranger than their son. And then there was the fact that Harry wasn't bringing in any money. This wasn't a good situation. The one good thing about it…it got Harry out of the house. And he was working…on what they didn't know. But he was getting room and board for whatever he was doing.

That evening, Harry decided to show his parents another of his newly found skills. First he gave them both a tiny gift that had been specially wrapped for each of them by Seymoura. "What's this?" asked Edith.

"Miss Seymoura said to say to you, _You've never heard anything so quiet."_ I don't know what that means, Mom. But she told me to say it when I gave you the gifts." Each tiny box held a pair of ear plugs.

"Miss Seymoura told me to give you the gifts just before I show you how well I've done on…the violin!" He went over to the sink and shook out the tiny violin and sprayed it with a bit of water from the sink. His parents couldn't see what was happening as the violin grew right to full size in the sink and Harry wiped it off. He turned around and held it up with a flourish.

Arthur put his hand to his head. "Oh no," he groaned softly to his wife.

"Arthur," Edith pointed to the ear plugs and they both put them in. Harry played his badly-tuned antique violin for quite some time and was delighted to see his parents both smile at him all during the performance. He must have improved _greatly!_

After a nice visit, Harry went back to the doctor's mansion after promising his parents to come back home more often….without the violin.


	7. Harry Has a Grueling Day

Harry continued to do his good deeds. He rescued some people from a burning building. He fixed the flag on the top of the bank when its lines got stuck. He did however get his cape caught on the hands of the huge clock on City Hall when he flew by one day and it pulled the minute hand right off. It fell onto an automobile and crushed the top.

Harry swooped down to look at the damage. A girl emerged from the car to meet Harry. "Oh thank you kind Hero! Those awful men were kidnapping me!" Harry looked inside the car and sure enough, there were two men in the front seat looking rather dazed. Two police cars soon arrived as Harry was still surveying the damage to the kidnappers. He put his finger between his teeth and stood still.

The police rounded up the dazed criminals and took them off to jail just as the Mayor came out from City Hall. "Another job well done, my boy," he said as he slapped Harry on the back, almost knocking him over. "Why don't you step inside? I want to talk to you."

The Mayor led Harry to his office and told him to sit down. "Now, my boy, first of all I'd like to thank you for helping out our wonderful city. You are the most amazing phenomenon we've seen here since someone invented…ah…"

"Jell-o?"

The Mayor looked at Harry strangely. "Perhaps…" He cleared his throat. "In any case, we'd like you to sign an exclusive contract with us so that your services would be restricted to our City only." He put a very long scrolled up document in front of Harry. He pointed to a place at the very end. "You don't have to read it. Just sign here."

Just then there was a knock at the Mayor's door and without waiting for an answer, Seymoura entered and took the pen right out of Harry's hand.

The Mayor looked shocked and sat at his desk, his mouth open slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but wasn't sure what.

"Benson Q. Hamburger! I knew you'd get around to this!" She pulled Harry out of his chair and pushed him behind her. "Where's that contract?" She grabbed it and scanned it quickly. "Well! This is really something, Benson. You've sunk lower than usual!"

Seymoura ripped up the contract to shreds and pulled Harry out of the Mayor's office. The Mayor was left standing in the doorway, saying, "But…but…Seymoura…"

She pulled Harry outside and grabbed his arm as they walked. "Are you wondering what that was about, Harry?"

Harry narrowed his eyes, thinking. "I didn't read the contract. He said I didn't have to. Was that the Mayor?"

"Harry, yes, that was the Mayor. And do you know what the contract was about? No, of course you don't. Why am I asking?"

"I don't know, why are you asking?"

She put a finger over Harry's lips. "Sssshhh. Listen. Let's sit down. I'll explain." She stopped. They were in the Troublefield City Park and Igor was waiting patiently for them at a park bench. Harry found a tiny ball he had put in his special pouch and sprinkled it with water from the fountain. He threw it to Igor who caught it with glee. Harry sat down on the bench next to Seymoura.

"Harry, Mayor Hamburger was trying to take you for a ride."

Harry's eyes opened wide. "Really? Where to?"

Seymoura rolled her eyes. She needed to choose her words more carefully. "Mayor Hamburger was trying to get you to sign that contract which said that you would have to be paid for all your services by whoever you help."

Harry thought a moment again. "Isn't that good?"

"Yes and no. First of all, heroes aren't paid for helping people. Although that is completely up to you. And secondly, even if you were paid, the Mayor wrote in the contract that any money paid to you for your services must be turned over to City Hall. He wants you to work for the City of Troublefield, for nothing! He's a crook, Harry."

She paused. "There's something else too. He wants to find out your true identity. I think it wise that you keep it a secret. Although that is completely up to you also. But think about this. If you tell everyone who you are, you will be mobbed even if you're not wearing your suit."

Harry was pondering the fact that signing the contract would probably have been a fate worse than drinking Jell-o that smelled like rotten meat.

He smiled at Seymoura. "You're very nice, Miss Seymoura. You're almost as nice as my Mom."

"Heavens to betsy, I don't think the word 'nice' describes me. But no matter. We had better get on back to the mansion."

"Miss Seymoura? Can I ask you a question?"

"What is it, Harry?"

"How did you know that Mayor Hamburger was up to something?"

"It's a long story, Harry. Suffice to say that I used to date the Mayor's father, Ferguson T. "Hot Dog" Hamburger. I found out quickly that "Hot Dog" was a huge crook. And then his son was elected Mayor when "Hot Dog" retired. Well, like father, like son. Benson has shown himself to be as big a crook, if not worse, than his father, "Hot Dog."

* * *

People were starting to call in tips on crimes now for Harry to check into. Seymoura had given the newspapers her phone number only as a contact to reach Harry. Sometimes the police called too.

One day, Harry was flying around the train yards on a tip that there was going to be a shipment of rifles to be transported to the City of Chicago and that there might be gangsters boarding the train to steal them. Harry was to guard the shipment all the way to Chicago and then turn it over to the proper authorities.

Harry was told the train would carry passengers and would be made up in the yards below where he was flying. He yawned. He settled down on the top of a passenger coach. He was very tired from staying up late playing ball with Igor and watching the Doctor catch mice. He suddenly realized that he was wearing his regular clothes. Seymoura had told him not to fly around outside except in his special suit. It was all right, though. He wore it underneath his regular clothes. He lay down on top of the train coach and curled up in a foetal position. He fell asleep.

Harry woke up when he heard the switch engines coming to make up the train. He jumped off the coach on a side where he wouldn't be seen. He ran behind a tree to pull off his clothes so he could board the train and guard the shipment. He took off his clothes and piled them in a heap and he looked for his special pouch. Then he looked down at his legs….and his arms…he had forgotten to put his special suit on this morning after drinking his green Jell-o. He was clad in his long white underwear!

Harry stood there a moment. He looked at his legs again. Yes, it was the white underwear. He checked his arms. He pulled out the white material on his chest. Still underwear. He ran around from one tree to another. He didn't know what to do. Finally, he sat down on the ground. He put his shoes back on. He wished Seymoura were here … she would know what to do. Or even his Mom…she would think of something. Or even Igor…it would be fun to play ball with Igor…

The sound of the train brought him back to reality. He put the rest of his clothes back on and ran after the train, just catching the last car and jumping on board. He sat down in the last coach and looked out the window.

"Sonny," said a voice. He turned around to see a man clad in a railroad uniform. His hat said "Conductor". "Can I see your ticket?"

"Ticket?" asked Harry.

"Yes. You have to have a ticket to ride this train."

"They didn't tell me that."

"Who didn't tell you that?"

"The people that told me to guard the train."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm supposed to guard the shipment going to Chicago."

"How did you know about that, sonny?" The conductor grabbed him by his jacket and pulled him to his feet. "What do you know about that shipment?"

"It's going to Chicago."

"I know that. What else do you know? And who are you, by the way?"

"I'm Harry Lane."

"Alright, Mr Harry Lane, I think you know too much. Get off the train." The conductor took him out to the back of the coach and threw him down the stairs and off the train. Harry rolled down an embankment and stopped … right at the back door of the Seymour mansion.

Seymoura was coming out with a wash basket of wet clothes to hang on the line. She almost fell over Harry. "What are you doing there, kiddo? I thought you were going to guard the shipment going to Chicago."

"They threw me off the train." Harry was still laying on the ground.

"Why did they throw you off?"

"I didn't have a ticket."

"You don't need a ticket. You're a hero…with a special disguise….A wonderful suit that I made you…" She started putting the wash on the line. She picked up Harry's special suit, which was very wet from being washed, and hung it on the line. Then she looked at it. "Uh oh," she said.

Seymoura looked down at Harry. "Are you hurt?" He was still laying on the ground.

"No." He stood up and brushed himself off.

"Well, you'll have to go to Chicago then and find out what happened to the shipment. But you'll have to wait till your suit is dry."

"Okay."

When the suit was ready, Harry put it on and flew to Chicago. He caught up with the train just as it was a couple hours outside of Grand Central Station. He flew down and alighted at the back of the last coach where he had been pushed off the train a few hours before. He walked through the train and people saluted him and pulled on his cape and wanted him to sit with them. He sat down a few times, then remembered his mission.

Finally Harry reached the baggage car, where the shipment was being kept. There were long wooden crates with chains and padlocks on them. Strangely there were no guards Apparently the presence of the Hero to watch the crates was enough, and no one knew that he had been thrown off the train earlier.

Unknown to anyone else, two gangsters were on board the train, Louie the Louse and Vinnie the Vicious. Both wore zoot suits and fedoras. "Now's our chance," whispered Louie to his accomplice.

The two got up inconspicuously and made their way to the baggage car where the shipment was being held. This plan was to tie up any guard or guards that were with the shipment and stop that train at a specific place. They were to be met by Bob the Bully and Lenny the Loser who would come with a large truck and meet the train just before it reached the station. Then three of them would load the shipment onto the truck while the other tied up the train crew and held his gun on them. The train would be unable to continue on to the station until the engineer and fireman could get untied and the gangsters would have a great head start.

Louie and Vinnie opened the door to the baggage car and stepped inside. There was a small strangely clad man with a violin in his hand sitting on one of the crates. He started to play and the two ruffians fell to the floor holding their ears and screaming. Soon they were unconscious from the pain of the sound.

Harry didn't notice the men until his violin piece was finished. He put it down and then looked over and saw two unconscious gangsters in zoot suits and wearing fedoras, laying on the floor. He stood up, confused. How had they gotten in?

He put his finger in his mouth and went over to the men. He touched one of their arms with his foot, just a little, not a kick. He poked his finger into one man's chest. No response. He saw one of the men's wallet had fallen out on the floor. He tried to give it back but again there was no response.

He opened the wallet and pulled out a business card. He read it out loud. _Vinnie the Vicious. President, Gangsters, Inc. You want it, we steal it. Train robbery a specialty. Reasonable prices. _Harry looked at the card, then the gangsters. He didn't know why they had fainted, but it began to dawn on him that they were the ones who planned to steal the shipment. Then he got scared. What was he going to do when they woke up? He sat down again on the crate and started to play his violin. That would probably help him to calm down and think.

Harry happened to glance outside as the train raced by a clearing where a pickup truck was parked. There were two fellows dressed just like Harry's thugs standing outside waving their fists at the train and jumping up and down. He wondered what was wrong.

The train slowed and Harry stopped playing when it stopped. He ran outside to get the conductor. Harry pulled the conductor into the baggage car where he saw the two thugs still out cold on the floor. He looked at Harry. "Why that's Vinnie the Vicious and Louie the Louse! You kept them from getting away with the shipment!"

The conductor summoned the police and the thugs finally woke up as they were being carried to the paddy wagon.

Harry took off for the Seymour mansion again. He spiralled gracefully up into the sky. He flew over the Midwestern farm terrain and kept on going until he recognized the City of Troublefield below. He noticed some colourful rockets going up over a large industrial building. Intrigued, he flew over. There were many rockets going up from that building, for it was a firecracker factory. A fire had broken out in the building and set many of the rockets and firecrackers ablaze and they flew up to the sky with mighty sounds of roaring, crackling, whistling, popping and banging. A huge red rocket, on its way up, went right past Harry and he inadvertently grabbed onto it. Harry and the rocket went up and up and did wild circles in the air. It crackled and spit fire. Finally it was out of power and it started to sink. Harry was still holding on, not sure of what was happening.

What Harry didn't know is that there was a great water tower placed on the roof in case of a fire of this sort. It was supposed to automatically let down water on the roof and into the building in the event of a fire. But it had several plugged water lines and the water wasn't getting to the fire.

Harry hit the roof with a lot of momentum. He stumbled backwards and crashed into the water tower with such force that the clogs suddenly cleared from the water lines, the water came out and the fire abated. Harry was dizzy and sat on the edge of the roof. He was so dizzy though, that he fell off the roof and knocked down a man standing at the edge of the crowd watching the fire just as the police arrived.

The police helped Harry up, then one of them said, "Thank you for capturing Matt the Match, the notorious arsonist. We knew he would be here watching the fire, but he usually gets away just as we pull up. We have him now, thanks to you!"

Harry nodded politely and decided he had better get back to the mansion. He took off and was really glad to see his whacky friends and their whacky dog. He just wanted to go to bed and get some rest after a gruelling day.


	8. The Daily Snoop

An hour later, Harry was sleeping and Seymour and Seymoura were relaxing in the living room. Seymoura decided to do some painting on a picture and Seymour, as he had done very often of late, was just sitting curled up on the couch reading the newspaper. Since he had become a cat, he was quite contented and had no urge to invent anything else. He did however, love to chase mice. Igor, being a very good dog, did not bother the cat, although he was hoping he might get a chance to chase it sometime.

There was a knock on the door. Seymoura answered it. Two men stood there, one with a notebook, the other with several cameras. "Hello, Ma'am. We're from the Daily Snoop newspaper. We understand the strangely clad hero who has been of so much assistance to our town lives here and we'd like to get some pictures and interview him for a story."

"What makes you think that he lives here?" she answered, raising an eyebrow.

"We saw him headed this way a few times after some of the rescues. There isn't much on this side of town and we thought…" He paused. "By the way Ma'am, you wouldn't happen to be his grandmother, would you?'

"Certainly not!" said Seymoura, slamming the large door in the faces of the reporters.

"Seymour," she called to her brother as she entered the parlor. "There were two reporters from the newspaper asking after Harry. I wonder why they think he lives here? They gave me a lame excuse, but I know they want to paste his picture on the front page with some headline like "Hero Unmasked" or some such thing.

"Mrowr," said Seymour. "Maybe they'll want a family portrait, Seymoura. I should probably clean my ears."

"Seymour! Get up off the couch this instant, put down that newspaper and listen to me! We can't have them prying into our affairs and discovering who Harry is and how he is able to fly! Why just think, they might want to steal all of your wonderful inventions, including the green Jell-o! We can't have that happening!"

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"Well for one thing, I want you to change back from a cat into yourself! Since you have become a cat, all you want to do is read the newspaper and chase mice!"

Seymour shook a claw at his sister. "Now don't forget, that since I've been a cat, I have taken at least three baths every day, saved you the trouble of giving Igor a bath too, and I never, never throw up hairballs on your good rug!"

"What about the shredded kitchen curtains, Seymour? And I know you've been standing on the dining room table too…I can see the fur you've shed there and your footprints in the dust…"

"So you want me to change back?"

"Yes. Right away. We might need something else invented to keep those reporters away from here and you just don't concentrate when you're a feline." She paused. "And Harry is running out of his Jell-o. You'll have to make more."

"All right," said Seymour. "You're no fun, you know that?" But he went down to the cellar and started mixing chemicals together, purring to himself.

Meanwhile, the two reporters from the Daily Snoop were still outside the front door, sitting on the step. "Joe," said the photographer, "I could swear that flying fellow ended up at this house and entered it somehow."

"I didn't see anything, Bill. But it's still worth a try to get us a good scoop. This would be the story of the year if we can get a photo and an interview with the Hero."

"Let's go around the back and see if there's another entrance."

The two reporters stealthily snuck around to the back of the huge old mansion and sure enough, there were some windows in the back which looked like they led to the cellar. They were dirty and the reporters could not see through them, so they pulled up on one window, and sure enough it was unlocked. Bill pushed his head through and looked inside.

He saw rows and rows of tables with strange looking concoctions on them. There were beakers and cups and test tubes and vials full of brightly coloured fluids. That was amazing, but what was astonishing was the strange creature who stood behind one of the tables busily mixing chemicals and purring to himself!

"Joe," said Bill quietly, pulling his head out from the window. "You're not going to believe this. You better look yourself."

Joe took a peek. "That's very weird, Bill. And it would make a great story if we can't get the Hero story. I can see it now…headlines…_Cat becomes mad scientist… invents…_ well, I don't know what he is inventing, but it looks like a great story. Quick, get some photos."

The photographer put his camera through the window and was about to take a photo of Seymour the cat. But Seymour had heard them talking with his extra sensitive cat hearing, and he threw a rag toward the window where it landed on the camera lens. He put a dish on the floor and poured something in it, then called Igor. The dog licked up the concoction noisily. Then steam came out of his ears, his eyes grew larger and looked like burning pools of glowing fire. Steam came out of his nose too and his growl became a roar. He grew twice his size.

Seymour giggled. "Sic 'em, Igor!" The dog leaped up to the window and knocked the reporters down. In the darkness, the dog's eyes glowed and he leaped through the window, chased them off the property and back into town. Then Igor returned home where Seymour gave him another potion to return him to normal. Seymour then sighed. He knew he had to take his potion to return to his normal state too. He held his nose and drank the concoction.


	9. Harry Looks for the Mayor's Daughter

Unknown to most, Mayor Benson Q. Hamburger was a huge crook. He employed most of the gangsters and other underworld characters that often terrorized the City of Troublefield. Matt the Match had even done a few jobs for him. He desperately wanted the unknown Hero under his power so he could control the crime fighter himself and send him off on wild goose chases while the Mayor and his cohort took advantage of the good citizens of the City of Troublefield.

The Mayor thought and paced back and forth in his office. There were only two alternatives, either the Hero would work for City Hall or else he had to be eliminated. He had tried the first alternative. He rubbed his hands together and grinned evilly. He laughed. This might be a lot of fun!

Harry awoke the next day in his room at the Seymour mansion and sat up in bed. The sun was shining brightly through the window. Harry smiled. It would _have_ to be a good day if it started like this! He dressed as usual, putting his special suit on under his street clothes. He came down stairs and sat at the table. The Seymours were already there.

"Good morning, Harry," said Seymoura. "I think you're going to have a busy day."

"Why?"

"Look at the newspaper headlines, Harry," said Dr Seymour.

"Oh, you're not a cat anymore," said Harry, sounding disappointed.

"Yes, I miss my feline side too…the claws were great for picking my teeth…"

"Seymour!" said Seymoura, frowning at her brother. She turned to Harry. "Harry, read the headlines!" said Seymoura.

"Mayor Hamburger's daughter Nell abducted…The mysterious Hero is sought to rescue her!"

Harry read it several times. Then he sat at the table with his finger between his teeth looking thoughtful. "Where do you suppose they took her?"

"Harry," said Dr Seymour. "That's why they're looking for you…they want you to find her!"

"They do?"

"Yes, you're the Hero they are talking about!"

"Oh."

"Harry, drink your Jell-o," said Seymoura. "And be careful…be very careful. I don't trust Mayor Hamburger."

"Okay. I promise. I'll be careful."

Harry left on his quest. He didn't know where to start. Seymoura suggested City Hall to find out where Nell had last been seen. She gave him a few more tips too.

Harry kept his street clothes on and walked into City Hall. "Can I see the Mayor?" he asked of a pretty girl at a desk. She was chewing gum and snapping it.

She looked at Harry up and down. "Sure, honey. Why?" She pulled out a nail file and started filing her nails.

"I have to ask him some questions."

"He don't see nobody. But you can ask me anything

"Okay." He pulled out the notebook Seymoura had provided for him. "So when did you last see Miss Nell Hamburger?"

The girl cracked her gum again and looked at Harry sideways. "Pull up a chair, honey. Sit down here, next to me." She crossed her legs. He pulled up a chair.

"So when did you last see her?" asked Harry.

"Who?"

"Miss Hamburger."

"Oh, her. I never seen her. Don't know what she looks like."

"Oh," said Harry. He sat quietly for a moment, then he said, "So can I talk to the Mayor?"

"He's not in."

"I thought you said he didn't see anyone," said Harry. He was becoming confused.

"That too. By the way, my name is Bunny."

"Hi, Bunny. I have to see the Mayor."

"He don't see no reporters. I have to get back to my typing. But you can watch if you like." She turned to the typewriter and hit one key with one finger of one hand then another with one finger of the other hand. She continued like this until she had almost a whole sentence typed.

Harry was not one for fast moves, but he thought this needed decisive action. Seymoura had told him he needed to find out the facts of the abduction. He looked at the door with the Mayor's name on it. He glanced at Bunny. He inched his chair over closer and closer to the door. Finally he was close enough. He stood up and was ready to knock when the door opened. He knocked on the Mayor's face. The Mayor pulled back a bit and rubbed his nose, looking at Harry strangely.

"Can I talk to you, Mr Mayor?"

"Are you a reporter? Do you work for the Daily Snoop?"

"No."

"Well, I don't talk to anyone but them. Go away."

"Wait…please wait…" The Mayor tried to close the door but Harry was holding onto the knob.. He pulled harder. Harry's foot was caught at the edge of the door and he started to fall. He grabbed onto the Mayor's coat and it started to come off of him as Harry fell. The Mayor and Harry fell down in a heap. Bunny was still cracking her gum and typing away at her furious speed of 5 words per minute.

"Get out of here!" the Mayor screamed, his face turning red.

Harry got up, but stumbled over the chair in his haste and fell down again. He got up again quickly as the Mayor yelled again. He ran out of the office and saw a door. Thinking it lead outside, he opened it. It seemed to be a closet.

Harry didn't know what to do now and so he sat for a while on the floor in the closet. Then he remembered Seymoura's words, "He may not want to see you, Harry, but he will surely see the Hero."

Harry removed his street clothes and found a light switch. He discovered the closet was a mop room and contained a slop sink with running water. He pulled the head covering on and tied his cape carefully. He doused his teeny tiny boots and goggles in water and put them on, along with the gloves. He folded up his street clothes carefully and turned off the light. Then he opened the door of the closet and stepped out into the corridor. Luckily it was deserted.

He came back into Bunny's office and asked to see the Mayor. This time there was an immediate response. She stopped cracking her gum and stood up, looking at Harry with a dreamy look. She knocked at the door and explained to the Mayor that the Hero was here to see him.

The Mayor said that he would be delighted. Harry walked into Mayor Hamburger's office and the Mayor stood up and shook his hand.

"I am very happy to see you…what is your name?"

Harry had been warned by Seymoura not to give his name out so his secret identity would not be known. He forgot himself for a minute… "It's Har… um…Hero. That's it. I just go by 'Hero.'"

"I see," said the Mayor. "Well, I need your help, Mr Hero…a terrible thing has happened…I am sure you have heard. My lovely daughter Nell has been kidnapped. Will you rescue her?"

"Sure. What's she look like?"

"Oh, she's very lovely. Long blonde hair, green eyes, tall, thin and has a beautiful face."

Okay. So where is she?"

"Isn't that what you're supposed to figure out?"

"Oh. So where did you last see her?"

"In my office yesterday. But she was abducted last night and the kidnappers said they were asking for a million dollars ransom. I can't afford that…I would have to raise taxes! Please, please, Mr Hero, find my poor Nell!…and Mr Hero…"

"Yes?"

"If I were you, I would check the railroad crossing at 5th and Main St. Look down on the track just under beyond the semaphore…"

"Thanks for the tip!" said Harry. He left the Mayor's office but he didn't notice the Mayor was rubbing his hands in glee.

Harry flew to the designated crossing after getting a little lost and having to ask directions several times. But he finally made it. Sure enough, there was a blonde woman bound and gagged, laying on the railroad track. He was trying to find his pen knife to cut the ropes, when he saw the train coming, just down the track. It had slowed a bit for the crossing, but still was coming fast, its steam whistle blowing the signal for the crossing.

Harry first couldn't open his pen knife, then found it was too dull to cut the ropes. With the train bearing down on them, its steam engine belching black smoke furiously, Harry had to do something. He grabbed the woman and rolled her over the rail and pulled her carefully down the embankment out of the way.

"Don't worry, you're safe now!" said Harry, still trying to sever the ropes. Then he tried untying the ropes. It worked and he pulled the gag from her mouth. "Are you Nell?"

"Yes, I am," said the woman with a smile. She was indeed lovely, just as the Mayor had described her. "Well, that was indeed rather uninspiring."

"What?"

"Your rescue of me. Rather uninspiring."

"Oh, thank you!" said Harry. "It's always wonderful to be appreciated. Let me help you up, Miss Nell."

Nell stood up and straightened her clothes. Then she fiddled in her pocket. Harry stood watching her. She pulled out a tiny Remington derringer that held only one bullet, one deadly bullet. She pointed it at the Hero.

"Oh, that's a cute little gun," said Harry.

"And it packs a punch, too. Don't underestimate its lethalness, just because it's small."

"Okay. Now I've seen it. You can put it away. You know, Miss Nell, you're not supposed to point a gun at anyone unless you intend to shoot."

Nell gave a sinister smile. "Yes."

Before Harry could think about what she meant, he heard footsteps behind him and he was grabbed by two men and his hands were tied behind him.

"Let me introduce you to a couple of my friends, little Hero. This is Conan the Cutthroat and Sam the Strangler. They aren't as nice as their names sound. We're going for a little ride, Hero."

"Oh. Where are we going, Miss Nell?"

"You'll find out when we get there."


	10. Harry Gets Taken for a Ride

The two gangsters pushed Harry into a beat up automobile. Harry thought it looked worse than his father's truck. The ride was very bumpy. "I think you need new tires, Mr Conan," said Harry to the driver.

They rode for quite a while and in about an hour reached the water purification plant for the City of Troublefield. It was a large stone building sitting on the banks of the river. Harry was taken inside and strapped onto a table in a room that looked like a laboratory.

"What are you doing?" asked Harry. It reminded him of Dr Seymour's experiments.

"Oh, such a naiive hero!" said Nell. "You have so much to learn…too bad you won't be around to learn it!" She laughed nastily.

"All right. I'll explain. You're crimping our style, little Hero. My father the Mayor, and I and our cohort can't do our dirty work with you poking your nose into everything and rescuing everyone all the time. Since you won't mind your own business, we'll just have to get rid of you!"

"Get rid of me?"

"Yes, little Hero. Do you see those grated holes in the floor?"

Harry looked around and saw them. He nodded.

"When we turn on the water with those big wheels on the wall, those drains will close. The water will come out of those large pipes on the wall. See them?" Harry nodded again. "This room will fill with water. You will have just 30 minutes."

"And then what happens?"

"You drown, dunce!"

Harry's huge blue eyes grew even larger. He wanted to put his finger between his teeth so he could think better, but he was tied down to the table with several straps.

The two gangsters started the water and then left. The Mayor's daughter followed, then stuck her head back in the doorway for a moment. "Till next time, little Hero. Oh that's right, there won't _be_ a next time!" She closed the door and Harry could hear her nasty laughter fading away into the distance.

This was a dilemma. Harry didn't know what to do. His hands were partially free but he couldn't move his arms or legs. He felt his waist and the little pouch was there. He opened it and carefully spilled out the only thing left in it, his teeny tiny violin and bow. He could barely see it from his prone position. He could lift his head only a little.

He thought it might make him feel better to play a bit of music. He couldn't raise it to his chin to play, and the strings were too tiny to finger, but he played the open strings anyway with the bow. At least it was music, to Harry's ears, and it kept his mind off his impending doom. He played one of his favourite tunes but he could barely even hear it, the violin was so tiny. He closed his eyes and kept playing and playing. He heard the rushing of the water and it crept higher and higher.

Finally the water came over top of the table that Harry was strapped to. As it swept over the tiny violin, the instrument because larger. Harry's music became much louder and if anyone would have been in the room with Harry, they would gladly ducked their head under water to avoid the harrowing sound.

The sound was so loud and atrocious that it made the building shake and vibrate violently and the drains opened and the water drained out. Harry kept playing until the musical vibrations made the straps that held him to the table start to fray and frazzle and they finally broke, setting him free.

Harry sat up as soon as the straps broke and tucked the violin back in the pouch where it returned to its former tiny state. He smiled and patted the violin in its pouch. He had finally figured out what a powerful weapon it was.

The next problem was the locked door, but as he approached, he saw that the lock had been shaken loose by the musical vibration and the lock lay on the floor. The door opened easily.

But once he was outside of the water plant, Harry didn't know what to do next. He flew back to the mansion to ask the Seymours what to do.

He told Seymoura what had happened. She phoned the police and told Harry to fly after the gangsters. Harry flew all around Troublefield but didn't see them. Finally, he spotted their dilapidated automobile on a road leading out of town. There was a hill where he could see them leaving town and he wondered if the police would get there in time.

Harry sat down on a large rock on the hill and kicked at some stones. Suddenly a huge avalanche started. Harry flew up over the barrage of stones and rocks, but the getaway car was hit by the rocks and soon buried on the road. The police soon caught up with the buried automobile. Harry flew down. The police congratulated him and they pulled the stunned criminals out from their destroyed vehicle.

Harry looked down at his hand where he had written what Seymoura had told him to do. He didn't want to forget. Seymoura had told Harry the next thing they had to do was capture the Mayor. He didn't know how he was going to do that.

Harry flew up next to the City Hall and peered in the windows till he found the Mayor's office. He would take a flying leap into the office through the open window and surprise the Mayor, whose back was turned, sitting at his desk.

Unfortunately the window was not open and his flying leap broke the window and Harry went crashing into the Mayor's chair, pushing him against the desk and overturning the desk where everything just skidded to a stop near the door.

Bunny opened the door. "Oh my," she said. "What happened here?"

The Mayor had hit his head on the desk and was temporarily out like a light. Harry thought he could see stars circling his own head and he stood up dizzily.

"Bunny," said Harry, "Please call the police…." He sank down to the floor and his legs flipped up as he slipped into unconsciousness.

Harry awoke several minutes later and he stood up, trying to remember what had happened. The police were taking a groggy Mayor Hamburger into custody, knowing about the recent capture of the crooks and having been apprised of his part in the mischief that had been going on in the City of Troublefield. Harry was thanked again and he flew back to the mansion, weary after a day of harrowing good deeds.


	11. Harry Gets Paid

A few days later, Dr Seymour read in the paper that the City of Troublefield had appointed a new Mayor who would rid the town of all the corruption. Seymoura laughed when she read that. "Ha. Easy job for him." She looked at Harry. "Why, you were the one who got rid of all the corruption!"

"I did?" said Harry.

"Listen to this, Harry," said the doctor. He read from the story, _The new Mayor will present a $50 (after taxes, of course) cheque to the City of Troublefield's valiant Hero. This money was donated by the people of Troublefield in thanks for all his heroic deeds._

Harry's eyes opened wider than usual. "$50 ...for me? I thought you said I shouldn't take money for rescuing people…"

"Well, you shouldn't charge them for your services," said Seymoura. "A gift…a different matter. Take the money, kiddo, you earned it. $50 seems pretty cheap though. You think they could have given you a little more…"

"Dr Seymour, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, Harry. What is it?"

"Well, if I am your apprentice, what did I learn?"

"Why, my boy, you learned a trade. You learned how to invent - you invented a job for yourself. And it's a unique job. Not many can be a Hero…"

Harry smiled sweetly. "Oh thank you, Dr Seymour. Mom and Dad will be so pleased."

"Now mind you, Harry," said Seymoura. "Don't tell too many people your secret identity." Harry nodded.

"Do I go home now?" asked Harry.

"Harry, you're welcome to stay at our mansion any time and for as long as you like. You can live here with us if you want. It will be great…we can invent more things together…But for now, I think you ought to spend a bit of time with your parents…and maybe a girl friend…do you have one?"

"No…" said Harry, blushing.

The doctor looked thoughtful. "Maybe I can invent one for you…she will be a mechanical girl and very beautiful…her hair might be a bit wiry…"

"Seymour, you know what happened the _last _time you invented a person!" Seymoura turned to Harry. "Well, I think it's about time you go to see your family. And forget about Seymour's mechanical girl. After you visit your parents, our grand-niece is coming here to visit. You might like to meet her."

Harry blushed some more and he smiled sweetly and nodded.

"Harry, before you go home, here is a little invention I would like to give you." He handed Harry a tiny sack of something.

"What is it?"

"Plant it in the back yard, Harry, and see what happens!"

"Will I grow a beanstalk?"

"Just plant it, Harry…"

Harry took his leave of the Seymours and promised to be back soon. Seymour gave him the recipe for the green Jell-o, but told him not to given it out to anyone, except his mother.

Then there was a knock on the door. It was the postman. He had a package for Harry. Harry opened it and astonished, took out his street clothes which were neatly folded in the box. Harry had wondered what he had done with his street clothes. He had missed them and for the last few days had to borrow some clothes from the doctor. There was a note in the box, _Thanks Hero Harry…we appreciate it._

Seymoura saw what was in the box. "Why that's very strange…"

"No, not strange," said Harry, "they're the same clothes I always had."

"That's not what I mean. Whoever found them knows who you are."

Harry didn't puzzle about the mystery. He was glad to be able to go home for a while. He had come to love the eccentric Seymours and their weird house and weirder dog, but it had been a while since he had been home and he was anxious to give the money to his father for the farm.

When Harry arrived home, Edith was of course very happy to see him. Arthur was more subdued, but he was glad to see that his son hadn't injured himself doing something stupid. He liked him even better when Harry presented him with the cheque for $50. But he grumbled a bit that Dr Seymour hadn't paid him anything for all the time he spent as his apprentice.

That afternoon, Harry opened the tiny sack and planted the seeds in the back yard. He wondered what kind of flowers they would be. Or maybe a beanstalk to climb up and meet a giant. Every morning he came outside and watered the place where he had planted the seeds. One morning, he was astonished to see a little tree about five feet tall that had grown up overnight. He looked at it closely. No, it couldn't be. His parents had told him it was impossible.

He looked at it from all angles. He walked around it. He touched the leaves. He kicked the bottom of the trunk just a tiny bit with his foot. He sniffed the flowers. He scratched his head. Then he heard his mother calling.

"Harry! Time for breakfast…"

Harry came inside in a thoughtful mood. "Harry, what's the matter? I saw you outside. Did those seeds come up? It looks like something grew out there. What is it?"

"It's not real."

"What do you mean?" said his mother.

"It's something that doesn't exist."

"How can it not exist, Harry?" said his father.

"You told me there is no such thing." said Harry.

"Well what does it look like, Harry?" said his father, becoming irritated.

"It _looks_ like…" said Harry, as he whispered the rest of his thought to his father.

"Ridiculous," said Arthur. He and Edith went outside to see what it really was. Harry followed.

"Well, I'll be a purple-nosed flying squirrel!" said Arthur.

Harry was right. The tree was sprouting large blossoms of $5, $10 and $20 bills. It really was…_a money tree!_

**THE END**


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